Barton & King Men's Basketball Close Season at DII NCAA SE Regional Quarterfinals

3/10/2012 12:00:00 AM

-Courtesy of Montevallo as Host to NCAA Tourney

 

#22 Falcons Hold Off Bulldogs to Advance to Semifinals, 96-87

MONTEVALLO, Ala. – The 22nd-ranked and top seeded Falcons of the University of Montevallo held off a surging Bulldogs squad from Barton College in the quarterfinals of the 2012 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Southeast Regional. The Bulldogs hit 27-of-30 from the free throw line in the second half while the Falcons knocked down just 24-of-40 in a very physical contest.

The Falcons improved their record to 25-7 while the Bulldogs fell to 20-10. UM now advances to the semifinals tomorrow night in BankTrust Arena at 7:30 p.m. to face the winner of #24 Lincoln Memorial University and King College.

UM was led by senior D.J. Rivera (Philadelphia, Pa./Binghamton University) who poured in 33 points and grabbed a team high seven rebounds. He was 11-of-17 from the field while hitting just 8-of-18 from the free throw line. He also led the team in steals with three. Senior Antoine Davis (Washington, D.C./College of the Desert) added 21 points, six boards and six assists while hitting 5-of-10 from the field and 11-of-17 from the charity stripe.

Junior Drico Hightower (Augusta, Ga./Angelina College) added 10 points while going perfect from the floor hitting 3-of-3 from the field and 4-of-4 from the free throw line. Senior DeMarcus Catchings (Arlington, Texas/Cedar Valley College) added nine points and seven rebounds.

BC was led by a quintet of players including leading scorer Gerald Boston who scored 21 while hitting 13-of-14 from the free throw line. Jaren Suggs added 19 points while Joseph Velez had 17 while going 5-of-5 from the field and 7-of-12 from the free throw line. Aaron Suggs added 12 points while hitting 6-of-7 from the free throw line and Keith Manley had 10 points.

The Falcons hit 61.9 percent of their shots from the field and 42.9 percent from three-point range. UM struggled from the free throw line hitting just 64.4 percent of its attempts.

The Bulldogs hit 42.9 percent from the field and just 21.4 percent from three-point range. The Bulldogs excelled at the free throw line hitting 78.3 percent including 90.0 percent in the second half.

The Falcons won the rebounding battle 35-30 but lost in turnovers as they had 18 and the Bulldogs had just 12. UM capitalized in the paint out-scoring the Bulldogs, 36-24 on the inside.

For the opening seven minutes of the first half both teams played even basketball but with 12:32 left in the period and the Falcons up 17-14, UM went on a 17-0 run powered by six points from Rivera, six from Davis and four from Catchings. The Falcons would maintain a large lead for the remainder of the first half but a 7-2 run by the Bulldogs to close the half cut the Falcons lead to 12, 42-30.

The Bulldogs opened the second half with a jumper to cut the Falcons lead to 10 and just a few possessions later a jumper by Haley made it just a nine-point advantage. The Falcons would hold onto a five to nine point lead the rest of the half as the Bulldogs were unable to get any closer to the Falcons despite knocking down 27-of-30 from the free throw line in the second half.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MONTEVALLO, Ala. – In Saturday's first round NCAA Southeast Regional Tournament showdown between Lincoln Memorial University and King College, the Tornado sought out redemption for their two previous losses at the hands of the Railsplitters. King went blow for blow with LMU and led by Eddie Piccinini's career-high 32 points, gave the fifth-seeded Railsplitters all it could handle. After fighting back from a five-point deficit at the half, a late break by LMU handed King an early exit in a very memorable, first NCAA Tournament game in school history. The final score was King 60, Lincoln Memorial 67.
Down by five at the half, junior guard Eddie Piccinini (Orlando, Fla.) put the team on his back and with early assistance from senior Brandon Goss (St. Louis, Mo.) took the lead away from LMU and called it their own with a 6-0 run out of the gate. Piccinini came out of the locker room with a hot hand and hit his first four long-range attempts of the second half. Desmond Johnson missed a bunny under the bucket where Piccinini began his takeover with a three from the right wing, drawing King within two points, 31-29. King took its first lead of the second half when after a Cam Carden miss from deep, Goss drove the left side of the lane on the next possession and created an and-one opportunity, converting the three-point play to put King up 32-31 near the 18-minute mark.
From that point until under two minutes remaining, no team separated itself by more than three points as both teams jostled for the lead. Many of King's key players were in foul trouble early in the game and led to combinations of players unseen by many throughout the season as well increased LMU shooting percentages with additional inside looks.
Once King had caught up and retaken the lead early in the second half, the game saw an additional 11 lead changes and nine times where the game was tied.
The game became incredibly intense in the final four minutes after King retook the lead, 53-52, after Piccinini converted a pair of free throw attempts. Vincent Bailey drove the left side of the lane and put up two points to take back the lead, and soon committed the team's 10th foul of the half to send senior center Lio Gedeon (Marsh Harbor, Bahamas) to the line for two shots. Gedeon split the pair to tie the game at 54 points, before Brian Hewitt hit two more freebies to give King the lead for the final time of the night, 56-55.
Lincoln Memorial began heating up from behind the arc, hitting two of their final three three-point attempts of the night. After Brandon Armstrong hit his second long-range shot of the game, King's struggles from the free throw line began. Down two, Piccinini cut the lead in half by splitting a pair of free throws, 58-57. Michael Fortune had an opportunity to regain the lead after he was fouled by Armstrong, but missed both attempts.
The momentum shifted into LMU's corner when Cam Carden took a pass from his left and nearly seven feet off the arc put up a rainbow as the shot clock wound down, sinking it to give the Splitters a 61-57 lead with 1:08 to go. So began the fouling game, but only Piccinini hit any of the team's last three three-point attempts before the game grew out of reach.
Twenty-two of Piccinini's 32 points came in the second half where he went 5-of-7 from the field and a perfect 5-of-5 from deep. The junior set a new career-high with his 32-point performance, outdoing a 30-point night he had against Barton College on Jan. 21.
The story of the first half was summarized by each team's first half shooting statistics. Each team struggled from behind the arc, leaving it up to play in the paint and free throws to draw the picture of a 31-26 halftime score.
Piccinini led the Tornado at the half with 10 points on three layups after cutting through the LMU defense and using the window as his friend. He hit one of the Tornado's two three pointers in the second half, though King was cold until his make at 6:48.
The Tornado went 2-for-14 from distance in the opening 20 minutes, but their opponents also struggled shooting from long range. Lincoln Memorial took 10 chances from deep, only converting one early in the contest.
King and Lincoln Memorial matched each other in number of field goals and threes made in the opening session, but the difference leading to the five-point LMU halftime lead was made from the line. Of their 31 first-half points, LMU converted 12 from the charity stripe after forcing King to commit 14 team fouls, putting key players Brian Hewitt, Logan Lyle, and Lio Gedeon in foul trouble early. The trio played with three and four fouls for much of the contest. Only Hewitt fouled out with 45 seconds to go in the game.
In a game that much attention was given to rebounding, LMU held a plus-eight advantage in the rebounding battle, the smallest margin of their three meetings this season. King pulled down more offensive rebounds than LMU, 10-8, and scored twice as many second-chance points as the Splitters (8).
The loss brings an end to the season for the Tornado, who finished the year with an overall record of 23-8. They were crowned Conference Carolinas West Division and Regular Season Champions (14-2) en route to earning an at-large bid to this year's NCAA National Tournament. It also concludes the career of five seniors including Drew Rednour, Brent Thomas, Lio Gedeon, Brandon Goss, and 1,000-point scorer and all-time steals leader Brian Hewitt.